the green spot blog

This week was full of fun, Jesus, and thunder. Every day, it seemed, had storm clouds roll in and thunder. Fortunately for us, it seemed to only really rain when we were inside for meals or Chapel. Activities like Horsemanship, Zipline, Canoeing, archery, and more! These kids played our wide games with enthusiasm and gusto - you could often hear them playing halfway across camp. I hope all of the parents enjoy the singing today at Closing as much as we have all week. This week our speaker was from Dalhousie Church in Calgary, Brennan Dyck. It was so much fun to see the kids interact with Brennan in chapel and during the games. Last night we had our testimony "rocks"...rocks because for the third week in a row, we were rained out from our fire ring. The weather wasn't a downer though - as always - testimony nights are MY favourite. I absolute love hearing what kids are learning about God and what they're experiencing at camp. Here is a small sample of the testimo...

One hundred and fifty campers spread across five different programs joined us for camp this week. We had 16 Pit Crew finishing out their second week of camp, 16 Interns experiencing their first week as staff, 6 campers in our brand new Wrangler Up Sr. program where they learned what it takes to be an Evergreen Wrangler, 12 campers down at our Roughin' It Boys 2 camp and 100 Explorer campers at our Base Camp. We got a bit a rain and a bit of sunshine this week. Regardless of the weather - all of our campers played, competed, and couldn't be stopped from having fun. The weather even cleared up for our field BBQ on Wednesday so we could Party, eat some burgers, and finish up with Jug 'n' Jog. Our speaker this week was from Lethbridge, Alberta and one of our long standing staff members, Sarah Viejou (Renaissance). She started the week off by talking about lost coins and sheep (with the biggest, fluffiest sheep!!) and putting a puzzle together about how Jesus came to...

Our first week of summer has been awesome! We kick it off with one of the most fun ages - Jr. Explorers! These little ones are between the ages of Gr. 1-4 and are super keen to learn new skills, brave new heights (literally), and test their limits. These campers say the most ridiculous things and are hilarious. I've seen "Tigers" in skirts riding horses!! If that's not hilarious - I don't know what is! I absolutely love watching these kids look at an activity like canoing, identify that they are nervous about trying it and taking the brave steps towards conquering their fears. I think we could learn a lot from these little ones! Our Speaker this week was Carol from Cranbrook. Here we just called her Questing Carol. She taught us songs, had us competing for the Banana Cup each day, looking for stars, and had us laughing. She taught lots about God: He's an eternal God He's our eternal King We can have eternal life though His son, Jesus He offers u...

Nearly always - when I write about our little Sparks or Jr. Explorer campers - that's how I describe them: Little but Mighty. There are very good reasons that I do. These are campers who are generous, caring, truthful, excited, and energetic. Not at all to say that our other age groups aren't - but there is a little extra dose of all of that in these little ones. They can imagine the world as a better place and will act on it - one little act of kindness at a time. Sparks and Jr. Explorer camps are our slowest to fill - most often because parents are bidding their time, gently asking their young ones if they would like to come to camp. Put yourself in their shoes... Child (with big, giant doe eyes): What's camp?  What am I going to do there?  Are you (my parents) going to be there?  Do I know anybody? Will I like the food? I mean...I only like KD and hot dogs...Will I get KD and hot dogs? How long? Like how many sleeps? Can I stay with my sister or brother?...

Ooooooo - I love lists. Christmas time just screams lists, doesn't it? I'm sure with all that has been going on in your world - there's not a lot of time to make another one. So I went ahead and created it for you! Today marks only 15 days until Summer Camp Registration opens. If you haven't thought about Summer 2018 yet...you should really start (along with baking cookies, giant turkeys, wrapping gifts, and chasing the cat out of your Christmas tree). Camp is awesome. You know that - otherwise you probably wouldn't be here reading this blog. Or maybe you're a first timer...thinking about sending your son or daughter to camp and you are just trying to figure out if this "outdoorsy, crazy game-filled, Bible camp thing where my child is in the hands of complete strangers" is really the right thing to do... Let me help. I am what you call a camp veteran - a lifer . I'm not ashamed to admit that. I attended camp every year from when I was f...

Have I mentioned that 2018 is going to be an awesome year? Camper mail hit Canada Post today...that means more than 1000 kids are going to be getting notes from their Cabin Leaders and our 2018 Camper Brochure. It's such an exciting time! It's also exciting because we have another brand new program to introduce to you. Wrangler Up! Wrangler Up joins our Pit Crew and Internship Program to help build our next generation of staff. If you guessed that our Wrangler Up program is about training up new Barn Staff - you are correct. It's designed for horse enthusiasts to refine their riding, saddling, and cleaning skills while forming friendships which last a lifetime. Something that we've known for a long time is that when a camper loves horses - they really love horses. We also really believe in training the next generation of staff. We love our Barn Staff and know that it's just as important to train the next generation of horse-loving staff as it is our Cabin Leade...

2018 is going to be full of awesome new things at Evergreen. We've added another Family Camp to our schedule ( registration for Winter Fest Family Camp is open right now ), we're making Charge 3 co-ed, and we're adding two brand new camps to our schedule (Adventure and Wrangler Up). This week and next week, we are going to break down what Adventure Camp and Wrangler Up are going to be like. As our camps continue to fill each year - we're challenged with the question of how to grow while maintaining what makes Evergreen awesome and unique. As we were putting together our 2018 Camp Schedule - we took a hard look at our Out-trips. The campers that absolutely LOVE our out-trips do not often cross over to our Base Camps. There's something really special that happens out at the Tipis and at Foothills Outfitters Camp (Charge and Trails Away) that just can't be ignored. Knowing that these campers are often "once an out-tripper, always an out-tripper...

It hasn’t been hard to enjoy the fall season at camp this year. The colour change in the leaves was gradual and stunning. Even the snow wasn’t too bad...I can’t believe I’m even saying that. It can’t last for long though. This morning brought another skiff of snow and a bit of a winter wind. I’m guessing there won’t be much left of the fall colours after this week.  Winter means more than just snow and cold temperatures. It also means the new year and Summer Camp Registration. We started posting our summer camp dates on our website this last week and before we even got them all posted, we were getting phone calls from panicked parents who were not seeing their child’s favourite camp. We had a good chuckle at that.  At each Closing Chapel this summer, we talked about our growth over the year. It is exciting and challenging as we work to find ways to fit all of our campers into camps. We’re always trying to find ways to better engage our campers and meet them where th...

Sometimes when people ask me if things have settled down at camp I want to chuckle. Not because it's a silly question - more because it can feel crazy how far in advance we are planning. Not only that, but a few short days after Impact ended we were training our Fall staff, jumped right into Summer's End Family Camp, and then started receiving Guest Groups on site. There really isn't a "settling" that happens here. Just transitions into the next season. Summer has been packed up in my office, it's true. I've rolled up the signs that read Lost and Found, Registration A-K, The Nurse and stored them for the winter. Summer planning takes a cat nap in September. By October, registration forms for 2018, speakers, and volunteers all start getting worked on. It's exciting to watch plans build and develop. Summer camp isn't the only thing we plan for right now. In fact, it's only one piece of what we do. Retreats and Fundraisers are being planned...